Seeking Mavis Beacon

Just because the clock strikes twelve,

doesn't mean it's midnight.

How do you break up the vision but keep it whole?

It's like, for every step of that journey,

it's just a puzzle piece.

When you're making a puzzle,

you got that reference picture right there.

But you're putting these pieces together,

but you're not losing sight of that.

And every piece, even though it's not that whole picture,

every piece represents the entirety

and the-the totality of that picture.

How do you do that?

How do you move forward

and keep your dream while you, you have to...

you have to fragment it?

And even though you see it, it's...

you still got to put it together.

But you can't put it together if you don't keep it whole.

Mm, it's a conundrum.

- Right? - Yeah.

You're on the right path.

You're doing the right things.

You're thinking the right thoughts.

- Right? - Mm-hmm.

So you're able to embrace your dream

with every step.

So I think that's where you're at.

You're-- you're, like, in that space

where dream becomes vision and vision becomes reality.

And you'll have something to go back and look at

when you're ready.

And it-- Nothing may come of it.

But at least you have a place to begin from.

Mm-hmm.

You got to get your kibbles and bits.

Relax.

Take one deep breath and let it all out.

You are ready for lessons.

Welcome

to the Seeking Mavis Beacon hotline.

Our investigators are standing by.

We want to hear what you remember

about Mavis Beacon.

After the tone, tell us what you know.

And don't forget to leave your name,

location and contact information.

- Bye-bye. - Bye!

Hi, guys. Happy Memorial Day.

And in this video, I'm gonna show you

how I learned how to type so fast

from "Mavis Beacon."

"Mavis Beacon."

"Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing."

Oh, my God. That's just some MLG shit right here.

First of all, she was a typing champ.

She is me.

This is "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing."

It's a typing program.

It was created in 1987.

Is that "Mavis Beacon"?

Yeah. This place is the best.

This is a film about trickery and fraud.

About... lies.

Mavis's remarkable, nearly seven-decade career

was honored this month at the Kennedy Center.

Mavis has done it all

and worked with just about everybody.

When people heard that deep old soul

coming out of that computer, they wept.

Which, understandably, concerned her.

But her mother...

Her mother told her, "Mavis, they're happy."

Mavis has, um, deep love and affection

and parental guidance and support.

She's an icon, she's a legend, and she is the moment.

Now, come on, now.

Give it up for Mavis Beacon!

Is Mavis Beacon still alive? Is Mavis Beacon a real person?

I don't know what's reality,

but I assure you,

I'm as real as anything or any person.

What's a scam that's become so normalized

that we don't even realize it's a scam anymore?

I was today years old when I found out that this woman

was not a real person.

Many callers expressed dismay

that cyberspace seems more like the Twilight Zone.

Are you going to be like the masses?

Are you going to allow words to hypnotize you?

No!

A few models have faced the cover of

"Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing,"

but Renée Lesperance was the first. Clock it.

While Renée effectively disappeared by 1990,

after moving back to the Caribbean,

her character, Mavis Beacon, went on to become

an internationally-known star of sorts.

What do you need this for?

For my film.

Okay.

Well, I hope it's in here.

What you got in there?

Treasure trove.

We're looking for a tiny game

of "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing."

Does it ring any bells?

-You remember being at Costco. -I remember.

I remember buying it at Costco.

Why'd you buy it?

Because I had to type, and I-- I wasn't a fast typer,

so I was trying--

Oh, so it was for you. It wasn't for me.

Well, it was for us.

-It was a family experience. -It was a family experience.

Did you use it?

I might've tried. I don't...

-I guess I might've tried. -Oh, wow.

This might be a hot-- -That's a game changer.

You got a disc right there.

You got The Matrix on PlayStation!

See, this is promising. What else you got?

What is that? Oh, that-- Oh, Dave Matthews.

Is there-- Watch it be empty. Eh! I knew it.

-Here's your little friend. -Oh, little guy!

"What the hell are you doing?

How you been? It's been a while!"

I missed you.

Okay, all right, all right.

Okay, so you remember purchasing her.

I don't remember when I got divorced, to be honest.

-I was in the fourth grade. -Is that what it is?

I'm not real good with dates and times and stuff.

If I were "Mavis Beacon..."

-Where would I be? -Wouldn't be in here.

Yeah, I don't know. But this is--

This is the kind of box it will be in, you know?

That is the kind of box it would be in.

Now I'm questioning my own memory.

We don't find it, I guess I have to contend

with losing a piece of history.

All right. I'll take the pink ones for Olivia.

All righty.

Yeah, you got to meet my collaborator who's in town.

What does a collaborator do?

She's, like, a 19-year-old coder, tech--

She's super tech-savvy and is helping me

be thorough in my shit.

All right.

Appreciate you for helping me anyway.

Mm-hmm.

So, the video game, bro-- nonprofit bros,

they said we can use their storage warehouse.

- Or a room in it. - Okay. I see.

Do they have, like, Wi-Fi or...?

No, we have to get, we have to get our own router.

Um, the zoom is up top here.

I'm doing Face ID with a face full of camera, man.

Uh...

The tongue out helped you Face ID.

Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh...

So...

Introduce yourself.

I'm a filmmaker and an archivist.

Ooh.

Fancy.

-Fancy. - I don't know.

I think it, it's made more serious by all of this.

What do you want to major in?

What you're doing now?

You're gonna major in what you're doing already?

Yeah. Filmmaking.

...have any pictures of my daughter graduating

without this in the middle of her face.

Too bad.

It's always shots of this, like this.

Hi, Jaz. How you doing?

Good job, Jaz!

I'm from the Bay Area originally.

Yeah. I was raised in the suburbs of Silicon Valley.

And my family,

we had this one desktop computer.

And I spent a lot of time after school on Napster,

playing "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing."

I don't know what it was specifically about her

that I gravitated to, but I have very clear memories

of these Black hands that would be on-screen.

And I think that interest in technology

carried on into my filmmaking practice.

And eventually, I started asking myself,

"Who is Mavis Beacon?"

And not only "Who is Mavis Beacon?"

"Why was she Black?"

Okay! What!

One thing that I really, really want to encourage

is treating our conspiracy theories

as intuition.

This was also around the time

that I became familiar with you

and your theory around cyber doulas.